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Saturday, 15 June 2013

Last Stage of the 2013 Tour

Saturday 15 June 2013
We're now back at home, the washing machine is on and most other things are put away. As always when returning from holiday, there was a pile of mail to deal with. Cathy also went straight outside to spend a couple of hours tending her garden (which has grown a huge amount in 2 weeks and is looking great), while I washed Sportie and the bike - priorities!

My alarm went off at 0500 this morning (0400 BST) and after a quick breakfast we dropped waste and left the Aire for the short drive to the Tunnel terminal. By this time it was strong winds and torrential rain, so we sort of expected the same in the UK - but we've spent this afternoon in hot sunshine. Having persuaded the cheerful (not!) British Border Agency lady that it was us on our passports, we queued up to join the train. During the crossing we spent most of the time cleaning the van, but also took the opportunity to lie on the bed as we sped under the sea! We arrived on time in Folkestone at about 0700 UK time and hit the motorway for the long drive north. A couple of breaks to refuel (us and the van) and we arrived back at the unit in Anderton at about 1400. Steph & Ian welcomed us back and I was very relieved with their understanding attitude to the damage to the van and that Ian had already ordered the replacement panels. Thank you both again for all the advice and help during our journey to "travel in a motorhome". We'll see you again soon and certainly for our next trip in September to Cornwall.

We're now catching up with the outside world and I'm updating our blog. Over the next couple of days I'll add the remaining photos to our later blogs (after the camera broke) and also add Google Map and other links to the various places we visited. I'll also add a further blog on our thoughts on the overall trip and some more information on the Aires and Campsites we visited, probably on a separate page. Until then we're crashing out after a long return journey. We enjoyed most of it, dreaded some of it, saw loads of new sites and learned a great deal about long term motorhoming abroad and the type,of van we think will suit our needs. More to come in a later blog.